


Seven Deadly Sins

by KattheCat



Category: Exiles Saga and Galactic Milieu - Julian May
Genre: Angst, Bookstores, Drama, Gen, Portal References, Science Fiction, Seven Deadly Sins, Sibling Rivalry, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-05-27 16:51:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15028961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KattheCat/pseuds/KattheCat
Summary: The seven deadly sins, and those from the Exiles / Milieu  'verse who committed them...





	1. Pride

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Julian May’s worlds; Julian May does. No copyright infringement is intended; I am only borrowing these characters.

The shockwave from the blasted land bridge catches the balloon with Felice, Stein and Sukey in it and flings it high into the air.

Felice shrieked as she fell from the balloon, her platinum hair a nimbus around her as she plummeted toward the ground. This is how it ends. 

She sees though the waters she had released rushing into the Empty Sea and pride fills her to overflowing. She has caused the flood that will drown the exotics, even her Beloved, the loved one she hates. She has had her revenge and is content to fall. 

Felice ignores the unexpected aid of power she had been given before to complete things, because a fragment of reason whispers that what had happened should have been impossible. Aside from Elizabeth, there aren’t supposed to be any other human metapsychics living in Exile. Maybe they were devils instead?

Wouldn’t it be nice to see the aftermath of the flooding though? Might as well check that the job has been done. You had to take pride in your work, after all...

She had flown in the balloon, but her newly-released powers shining in her mind show her what to do now. It’s so simple! She's already forgotten about Stein and Sukey.

Felice laughs, and the small tumbling form is replaced by a large black bird, which caws in triumph as it flies away.

\---ooo0ooo---


	2. Envy

Elizabeth’s surprised gaze rests on the time gate, now empty of Marc’s two children and their respective partners. The gate works! She pushes away the horrid thought that something goes wrong and the four people are reduced to ash at the other end… as the late Claude and Angelique would have been in their sacrifice. 

The gate works… and a stab of envy goes through her. What if she went home through the time gate too? She would be instantly welcomed back into the missed mental embrace of Unity. Surprise, sympathy, reassurance and affection wrapping up her mind like a warm blanket woven of millions of minds. She could help the four people acclimatise to the Galactic Milieu, be their sponsor and introduce them to Unity.

Eventually, she could get a ticket back home to Denali. She had liquidated her assets before going to Exile, but it would be easy to contact a colleague at the Denali Metapsychic Institute and borrow some money to pay for her trip home. She would be welcomed back and once she resumed her career, she would eventually pay back the money.

Sympathy and horror from those she relates her story to. Enslaved by exotics from another galaxy on the other side of the time gate? Chained as a prisoner, threatened with assassination? Treated as a Chosen One – her, a middle aged teacher? Marc Remillard, the Angel of the Abyss, alive? Not to worry, she’s home now. The Milieu will sort things out. Home, she had run back home.

She would be running away again.

It’s time to stop running away… if she’s brave enough. For Marc has done the unexpected and set his children free. He’s done the right thing – can she? She’s been so tired.

She hears Marc’s voice gently in her mind.

Elizabeth...

Marc is there before her and he lifts his right hand, palm forward in the metapsychic greeting that invites physical as well as mental touch. She remembers the first time he tried that, and her violent rejection.

She has the odd feeling that the world is holding its breath, waiting to see now what she does. In her minds eye she sees a far away galaxy waiting for her… waiting for them both.

Elizabeth lifts her hand and places it carefully against Marc’s larger one, which trembles slightly. Maybe that’s her imagination?

Nevertheless, he smiles.

\---ooo0ooo---


	3. Greed

Don Remillard wants what his twin brother Rogi has, he always will. Share and share alike, isn’t that the way? 

Rogi is bookish, but Don’s not that interested in books at school. There’s better things to do. He was blessed with good looks and Rogi wasn’t, really. Never mind. Don can smile at the prettiest girls and they will do whatever he say… such as his homework. His mind is special that way!

But then Rogi gets himself a nice girlfriend, sweet Marie with her golden hair. She’s a looker, almost otherworldly in a way. Don knows that some girls are the marrying kind and the others are, well, good for some fun. Before they get boring.

Rogi has good taste, Don concedes. But he wants what Rogi has, he always will. And Marie is the marrying kind.

Later on, Rogi brings over his new girlfriend, Elaine. She’s a looker, but then Rogi has good taste. 

She’ll be good for some fun.

He wants what Rogi has, he always will.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Of all the sibling rivalry in the Remillard family, poor Rogi got a raw deal.
> 
> \- No doubt both Marie and Elaine have a lot of Tanu genes (fair hair being a giveaway in these books).


	4. Sloth

It was a grey, dreary day which matched Rogi’s mood. It was a Saturday morning and he’d been plagued with nightmares last night.

He should be opening the bookstore... should be sorting through a new box of books that had arrived. But he couldn’t be bothered. No, what he was going to do was keep the ‘closed’ sign on the door, have a long breakfast and maybe go back to bed. He would tell his staff he was having a sick day and not to come in.

Rogi had just finished breakfast and was enjoying his sloth when he yelped as a telepathic thought arrowed into his mind.

Marc: Open the door. Please.

Rogi grumbled kids today to himself but flung on some decent clothes and went downstairs. He hadn’t thought twice about doing so - not because there had been any coercion behind the words – but because there was a trace of uneasiness leaking through Marc’s mind screen. Which was unusual, but then the bookstore had been a refuge for Remillard kids for a while now, and would probably be for a while yet.

Rogi opened the door to see the seven year old Marc standing there. He was a boy with a mass of curly black hair and a powerful, icy mind who constantly observed everything around him. In case it came too close. But he spent a lot of his spare time in Rogi’s bookstore. Sometimes he had followed Rogi around like a curious little shadow, often to the amusement of the other patrons, with thoughts of _that’s so cute_ emanating from their minds. 

Until Marc gave them that certain look of his and they went back to their own business. Rogi had had to patiently explain to Marc _not_ to coerce customers into leaving the shop. Yes, adults were weird, but if they bought books, this was good.

“Hello, Marc,” Rogi said kindly.

“You were closed,” Marc said, radiating puzzlement. “It’s a Saturday.”

Rogi sighed and flipped the sign from ‘Closed’ to ‘Open’. “I am now, I guess.”

No rest for the wicked.

“What brings you here?” Rogi said as he ushered Marc into the shop. “Books, I guess.”

Marc hesitated for a second. “Grandpere came by for a visit,” he said simply.

Rogi blinked. “Denis? But he’s….” 

He had been about to say that Denis, Rogi’s own nephew, was family and not one to be scared of, but then had looked down at Marc and saw the tenseness in his little shoulders that he couldn’t quite hide. Rogi hesitated. Could he honestly say these days that he wasn’t a bit scared of Denis himself? Especially since the Good Friday horror show that Victor Remillard’s death had turned into a few years ago.

If Marc had been scared, then nevertheless Rogi and his bookshop had been the first place to run to. Rogi had to honour that.

Rogi sighed. “Come on, kiddo, you can help me sort through a box of books that’s come in.”

Marc perked up as he followed Rogi into the store. “Science fiction?” he said hopefully.

“Sorry, it’s all fantasy, according to the manifest. Elves and quests, you’ll love them.” 

Marc looked so appalled that Rogi laughed and ruffled his black curls for a second. “Just kidding, it’s half science fiction. I saw a book that’s called _Robot Menace_ or something like that.”

Marc rolled his eyes but looked more cheerful. The day wouldn’t be so bad, after all.


	5. Gluttony

Marc can’t stop eating. Yes, he’s a teenager and going through puberty. He’s been briskly assured that it’s normal for boys to eat more at this stage as they go through growth spurts.

But that’s another problem. When he reached six feet in height (he keeps a careful measurement) he thought he would stop growing. There’s no need to get any taller, surely? What’s the point? A powerful mind is more valuable, not the body. He can redact away the growing pains but it’s getting annoying to keep on doing so.

Sometimes he’s dreaming of food, mountains of it. Eating everything until there’s nothing left. He hates feeling a slave to these urges. He won’t think about the other kind of urges, thanks. No. He’s in charge of his hormones, not the other way around.

He can’t stop eating. Gluttony is a sin, something he’s definitely guilty of. He’s sorry, really. 

Things must calm down soon.

* * * * * * *

He’s grown another inch. He can’t stop eating.


	6. Lust

Whenever Paul Remillard sees a beautiful woman (metapsychic, of course) he feels an immediate attraction, the wish to know her better.

Even though he should know better.

He’s at a function now and there’s a woman on the other side of the room who catches his gaze and smiles. She’s a beauty with creamy skin and coppery hair piled upon her head that glints in the lights of the room.

As he walks over to her, Paul can immediately imagine releasing that lovely hair from its confines.

Donatien's grandson ignores the knowledge that he will see another hurt look in Teresa’s eyes when he eventually gets home. 

There is only now and he will make the most of it.


	7. Wrath

Not for the first time, Louis Remillard looked down at the telegram in his hands that had been unfolded and refolded many times. As if each time he looked at it after that horrible first time, it would say something better. Instead of news of his brother Joseph’s death at the Battle of Iwo Jima.

A surge of anger rose up inside of him. Why did you have to die, Joe? 

Joseph was always the charmed one, who had a way of wrapping people around his little finger. When they were kids, Joseph would always be thinking of some wild new adventure and Louis would always readily say yes. He would sometimes be puzzled afterwards how he had agreed so quickly.

But in the end, Joseph couldn’t charm Death.

Why couldn’t Joe have lived to see his own children? Joes’ wife - poor widowed Adele - had died after giving birth to Rogatien and Donatien, their twin boys. There had been no question after whether Louis would bring them into his home.

Louis sighed and rubbed his face, the anger fading. Those twins… there was that one time he had looked in on them and could have sworn there had just been someone standing by their cradles. Someone tall.

Well, his brother had been tall, taller than him. Maybe his brother had seen his little boys after all.

 

FINIS


End file.
